4 ms·

Their Android app at least is way too difficult to use. I tried it with my friend some time ago and we just couldn't figure out in a reasonable amount of time

by qplex 9y ago

Their Android app at least is way too difficult to use. I tried it with my friend some time ago and we just couldn't figure out in a reasonable amount of time how to add each other etc. I consider both of us tech savvy and we have absolutely no trouble with other IM clients or more archaic stuff like IRC.

windexh8er 9y ago
Difficult to use? I'm even more confused as there is literally nothing to do to "add" someone. As I stated our entire family uses Signal across Android, IOS and desktop. That age range in our entire family group is 20s to 70s and I happen to be the only user who would be considered tech savvy.
- qplex 9y ago
  Yes. We didn't have each others phone numbers in our contacts. Manually adding by phone number didn't work. At this point we just gave up. I use prepaids because I travel a lot so my mobile numbers are just throwaways. I'd rather not give _all_ of my contacts to an app anyway. So there really should be a way to manage contacts inside the Signal client and add people via screen names or email addresses.
  - windexh8er 9y ago
    Contact permission is only required to associate a name with a number. All you would need to do is type in a phone number and Signal would have worked. I agree that it would be nice to have another root artifact for using signal (screen name, email, etc). The one frustrating piece about Signal is not being able to use it across mobile devices. However it needs to be considered Signal was originally securing texts via TextSecure. It didn't, fundamentally, come up as a Slack or Telegram competitor. So that design decision may make it feel "behind" in comparison. However, I'll again state that I don't trust the others. There's no way you could force me to use FB Messenger or Google (product here). Most complaints here are fundamentally still UI/UX, not privacy. And useable privacy was the original intent. Signal has that in spades.
    - qplex 9y ago
      Thank you for the explanation. I'm curious though; what happens if someone takes over your phone number? Eg. If the operator re-assigns a prepaid number?

by qplex 9y ago

windexh8er 9y ago

Difficult to use? I'm even more confused as there is literally nothing to do to "add" someone. As I stated our entire family uses Signal across Android, IOS and desktop. That age range in our entire family group is 20s to 70s and I happen to be the only user who would be considered tech savvy.

qplex 9y ago
Yes. We didn't have each others phone numbers in our contacts. Manually adding by phone number didn't work. At this point we just gave up. I use prepaids because I travel a lot so my mobile numbers are just throwaways. I'd rather not give _all_ of my contacts to an app anyway. So there really should be a way to manage contacts inside the Signal client and add people via screen names or email addresses.
- windexh8er 9y ago
  Contact permission is only required to associate a name with a number. All you would need to do is type in a phone number and Signal would have worked. I agree that it would be nice to have another root artifact for using signal (screen name, email, etc). The one frustrating piece about Signal is not being able to use it across mobile devices. However it needs to be considered Signal was originally securing texts via TextSecure. It didn't, fundamentally, come up as a Slack or Telegram competitor. So that design decision may make it feel "behind" in comparison. However, I'll again state that I don't trust the others. There's no way you could force me to use FB Messenger or Google (product here). Most complaints here are fundamentally still UI/UX, not privacy. And useable privacy was the original intent. Signal has that in spades.
  - qplex 9y ago
    Thank you for the explanation. I'm curious though; what happens if someone takes over your phone number? Eg. If the operator re-assigns a prepaid number?